Dead Men Walking
by Vulcanos
Summary: Kaneki bears witness to the aftermath to a rampant ghoul of a completely different kind, immediately setting to his trail. Ghoul Tsukune vs Kaneki Ken. Rated M for violence and gore.
1. Chapter 1

Kaneki wandered the streets, as he often did on nights like this. He was quickly aware something wasn't right around here. His suspicions were confirmed with a deafening crash, and the sounds that haunted Kaneki even to this day, and never stop; screams of the dead or dying. He donned his mask and patch with practiced speed and precision, dashing off to investigate. What he found could sicken most ghouls. Limbs lay all over the restaurant floor, feet or yards away from what was left of their bodies.

"What the hell?" Kaneki looked around, managing to hold back vomiting on the already sickening scene before him. No way one ghoul could have done this, none from around here. He recognized a couple lower ranked members of the endangered ghoul gang Aogiri Tree amongst the littered corpses, less mangled than the rest. They fought back, and were likely killed first. Either the assailant was fast and silent, or loud and even faster. There was a human...ish shaped hole in the left and right wall, likely an entry and exit point.

"Someone wants attention, badly. But who around here could do this?" As he left, keeping the eyepatch on for safety's sake, he walked past a tall silverette woman leading a somewhat shorter brunette down the sidewalk as if the latter had done something against the wishes of the former, and was being punished for it. His senses screamed at him that they both reeked of blood, and had little choice of his own but to follow. He went around the corner, and his senses deadened back to the normal. They were gone, both of them. Just... gone.

"Again, what the hell? I'm going to bring this up to the others." Kaneki departed, giving the café turned slaughterhouse a wide berth.

-Tsukune's View-

Moka led him quickly off the streets, aware they were being watched, and followed.

"I had another blackout, didn't I?" He looked down at his bloody shoes, already knowing the answer.

"One of the worst in a while. We really need to get that bracelet fixed, it's not fully holding you. The blackouts weren't supposed to happen." Tsukune looked at her glumly.

"But they did anyway... And I killed everyone in there, I just know it."

"Let's just get you back to Yokai, the sooner we get this taken care of, the better off everyone will be." Tsukune nodded, perking up a bit.

"Amen to that, Moka."


	2. Chapter 2

Kaneki knew he wasn't alone, catching Touka's smell easily. He could tell she was unsettled by the bloody scene that greeted them.

"There's no way one of us did this. I'm not even sure you would.." Her voice trailed off as she meandered closer to the scene, the stench of death overpowering and enticing. "There's someone familiar here. We've met them before." She gingerly turned over a badly mutilated corpse, revealing a mid-level investigator who had been on their tail for some time, back when Mado had been a problem. But what was he doing here? And why did she smell something unfamiliar here, faint yet distinct? It smelled kind of like a dolled-up corpse, with undertones of blood. She turned to Kaneki.

"You found it too?" She nodded, and he took another sniff. He smelled the same thing she did, and couldn't place what exactly it was. "We need to figure out who or what orchestrated this massacre, and if there's more than one." She grunted assent, eyes peeled.

"No doubt. We need to warn everyone back at Anteiku."

-On the streets of Tokyo, many miles away-

"You really need to get a grip on your actions, Tsukune. We almost got freaking caught back there by who knows who those jerkbags were!" Tsukune turned and looked up at her, growing angry.

"I'd like to see you try to deal with being a!-" Moka slapped him so hard he ricocheted off a Dumpster, something he was a bit more than used to at this point.

"Don't say that crap around here!" She hissed. "I've heard about ghouls here, and how they get hunted like animals. You want it to be like that for us?" Tsukune brushed himself off and stood up. Thankfully, the street was empty right then.

"You know you don't have to run around with me." Moka glared at him, with a "are you serious?" look.

"But I choose to, because I care for you, and somewhat about the people you would hurt if I wasn't around to keep you in check, which hardly seems to be working." She huffed, gathering herself, Tsukune as well. With their nightly squabble over, they set in motion again, minds set on the outskirts of Tokyo, and the miracle man who could reportedly fix Tsukune's "murder fits" for good without bloodshed.

-Back at Anteiku-

"So, what do you plan on doing about this... thing that's murdering the locals, Kaneki?" He looked at her, dismissing the usual captivation he found when he looked at her.

"We track it down, we kill it. Seems pretty cut and dried to me."


	3. Chapter 3

Dawn rose on the bloodstained streets of Tokyo, most of the world now tuned to the "Tokyo Tragedy" as labeled by social media. Video was rare to find of investigation footage, due to the bloody nature. No one was blamed, but Kaneki and Touka had a good idea what was behind the attack. They also knew time was limited before people linked the intense violence to the ghouls, and they were again hunted like dogs. They had to find the rogue assailant as fast as possible, at risk of themselves, their friends, and the citizens who would inevitably become collateral damage.

"Let's go over this one more time. Late last night, you investigated a disturbance of sorts, right Kaneki?" He nodded, for now saying nothing. "You found that horror movie scene, but the attacker was nowhere to be seen." He nodded again, then spoke.

"All the blood covered his scent almost entirely, but I was able to pick enough of it out to know it's not someone from around here. We're dealing with a rogue, a very strong one." She nodded assent.

"If we do go to Anteiku with this, it'll become a witch hunt, which is the last thing we need what with the inevitable light of the press headed straight for us. Your call, Kaneki." He donned his mask, his personality changing like it did all too often.

"Let's have a hunt of our own."

-Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Tokyo-

The silverette girl and her troubled companion finally came to a halt from their evasion of the human authorities, hands on their knees, panting as if they'd run a marathon. Moka huffed indignantly, but Tsukune raised a hand to stop the incoming tirade.

"Weve been... over this already, Moka. If I hadn't lost control back there, none of this would've happened, I get it. I've said the same thing about my being sent to Yokai in the first place more than once. But I'm glad I met all of you." She couldn't help but smile.

"Don't worry, I wasn't going to lecture you, I'm not one for beating a dead horse. I was going to tell you that if we really are being followed by the local nasties, they're going to come at us really hard. We need to stay on alert." He nodded, finally standing up straight.

"Let's say we give the nasties something to chase then, eh?" And he took off running.

"No fair, I thought we were taking a break!" Moka protested as she followed her lovable renegade closer to the edge of Tokyo, closer to one of two things: Freedom, or the fight of their lives. It all depended on who got to the city limits first.


End file.
